


Haven

by LyriaFrost



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Some mentions of violence, Werewolf!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-30
Updated: 2014-09-23
Packaged: 2018-01-27 15:29:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1715594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyriaFrost/pseuds/LyriaFrost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been two years.  Two years since Ray lost his two best friends, since they just disappeared on a warm spring day.  When they suddenly come back into his life, everything is different.  What reasons do the two wolves have for abandoning their very human friend, and what is Ray's life about to become?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in a world where werewolves are accepted members of society. Written on a prompt from a dear friend, Yuuki, who desperately wanted some werewolf!AU.

Another shitty day. Another shitty handful of dollars. Another day of a cold apartment, a lumpy mattress, and a shitty meal of a dollar burger from some awful fast food chain. Ray sighed as he trudged down the street towards the bus stop, thinking of everything he had to look forward to from this day. 

A half hour bus ride stuck next to loud smelly people who have no regard for person space. Hours spent working at the tiny GameStop in the mall, feeling jealous of all the little preteen kids coming in and wasting their parents' money on games they would play once and never touch again. Hours spent listening to his coworkers complain about how their college work was just too hard or how their boyfriend/girlfriend of the week had dumped them for so-and-so or how tired they were after the full moon. 

And at the end of day, all he got to do was take the bus back home, stop and grab a bite to eat, and then go back to his tiny, dirty apartment, where the paint was peeling from the walls and there were bugs in every corner and the water only worked every other day and the electricity even less that that. 

But today, something was different. Because when he got back to his building, clutching a greasy bag from McDonalds, there was someone sitting on the stoop. Two someones actually, though Ray only had eyes for the first person. Because the curly, reddish hair, tucked under a beanie, the pale skin spattered with freckles, and the bright hazel eyes were as familiar to him as his own face. 

"Ray! I wondered when you were coming back, we were just about to leave and come back in the morning." 

"M- Michael? What are you doing here?" Ray stuttered slightly, fumbling with the bag in his hands. 

"Well, I came to visit an old friend. Isn't that okay?" Ray dropped the bag of food on the ground before his fists clenched up tight. 

"I think you lost the right to call me a friend when you abandoned me here, Michael." The curly-haired man sighed, turning slightly to talk to the other person who was there with him. Ray barely registered the blonde hair, green eyes, and lanky limbs. The other man was slightly taller than Michael, but his presence seemed so much smaller. Of course, Ray may just have been biased, considering the man was a stranger and Michael was certainly no stranger. At least, the Michael he had known two years ago had been no stranger. The two of them were speaking quietly to each other, heads pressed close together, then the other man turned and trudged away, just leaving the two of them together. 

"Can we go upstairs, Ray? I really don't want to have this conversation on the street." Ray bent and grabbed his bag of food from the ground, pulling out his key so he could get into the building. Michael followed him quietly, up the stairs and through the grime-filled halls. He winced when they passed the neighbor two doors down who was always blasting awful screamo and rock music. Or when he heard the elderly couple upstairs who were always yelling at each other about everything with their extra-loud werewolf-enhanced voices. 

"Not quite the place you were living two years ago." Ray thought with a pang of the tiny house shaded by the big old trees where they had all lived back when they had all been happy. 

"Yeah, well... I couldn't exactly keep up with that place with only my poor income. The money I make is barely enough to keep up with this place." 

"Ray... what happened to all the money that we left you? There was more than enough there for you to support yourself all this time. That's- that's what we were counting on..." Ray finally snapped, and threw his bag of food across the room, listening to the wet smack as it hit the far wall. 

"That's what you were counting on? You abandoned me, Michael! You and Joel both! I didn't know what was going on, I wasn't sure what to do... it was like, one day you just disappeared. I came home from school and no one was there anymore. And all I got was a note! A note, left on the fucking table, like I was a kid who's mom had to go shopping for an hour. Except it wasn't an hour. It was two years! Two years, Michael... you and Joel left me alone for two years..."  "No... there was money, there was security... we were so careful to have it all set up. We had to leave, but we made sure you would be okay..." 

"But I wasn't, Michael... because someone called the cops on the 17-year-old who was suddenly living all by himself. Especially the 17-year-old who had been previously taken care of by two werewolves and then was just... alone. And the house was taken away, and all the money, and everything we had... and I had to go live in some group home until I graduated high school. And then I was kicked out on the streets. That home got to keep all the money you left for me, as payment for taking care of me. And when I left they gave me enough money to pay three months rent on this place and a job at GameStop." Ray had tears streaming down his face by this point, and Michael's face had gone shockingly pale. 

"No, it wasn't... it wasn't supposed to be like that..." 

"M- Michael..." Suddenly the curly-haired man was there, wrapping his arms around Ray, holding him tightly. 

"I'm sorry, Ray, I'm so sorry... please, you have to believe me, we never intended for any of this to happen." Ray was so tired of yelling and fighting, but he couldn't stop the tears that were streaming down his face. And Michael was there, with that strength in his arms that was inherent to all the werewolves who lived in and amongst the rest of the population. And there was the smell too, the one that smelled a little like wet dog, but mostly like fresh grass and deep forests and it just smelled so much like home to Ray that he never wanted to let go. 

But that was okay, because Michael wasn't making any movements to pull away either. He was just there, holding tightly to the shaking body of the slightly smaller man, just speaking random nonsense in his ear, pleading for forgiveness and trying his best to hold them both together. Neither of them noticed the curly-haired boy's cell phone ringing repeatedly, screen lighting up with missed text messages. 

"I know- I know you didn't mean for all that to happen, Michael... but I still don't understand, why I had to be put in that situation anyway. Why did you have to leave me? Why did Joel have to leave me..." One of Michael's hands moved up to his face, brushing away some of the tears that still sparkled on his cheek. 

"I don't know what Joel's reasons for leaving were. I never asked him, and he never told me. But I had to leave... because it wasn't safe for anyone to be around me anymore. My wolf... it was going crazy, I could feel it inside me, howling and snarling and trying to break out. It wanted to run and run and get rid of anyone who tried to stop it. And I had to leave, because at that time, you were the one who was holding me back, and the wolf knew that. It got so loud around you, I could barely control it." Ray could remember the weeks before their disappearance, when Michael had been getting angrier and angrier, yelling more often, and disappearing, sometimes for days on end. 

"That was... that's why you were disappearing? That's why you were always angry, always yelling... always avoiding me?" 

"It was... I was- I was trying not to hurt you, I was trying to make it easier for you. There was something I needed, something I couldn't get here in New York, something I couldn't find with you... But I was scared, and I didn't know how to tell you that, so I just pushed you away and tried to make it so that you would blame me, and get mad at me, and hopefully make it easier for you when I left. I didn't expect Joel to come with me, I wasn't expecting to leave you by yourself, alone. I'm sorry, Ray, you have to believe me." Ray pulled back and looked the curly-haired werewolf in the eyes and found that yes, he did believe him, strangely enough. 

"I do, Michael, I do believe you. I'm not happy with what you did, but... I think I can understand it." Michael pulled them over to the ratty couch that was one of the few pieces of furniture in the one room apartment. 

"I came back, Ray, because I found what I missing, I found the missing pieces that balances my inner wolf. Which means it's safe again, safe for you to be around me again. And I couldn't stay away any longer, I needed to see you, to know that you were okay." Ray pulled back, laughing slightly. 

"I wasn't okay, Michael... I wasn't okay for two years. But now I'm okay... because you're back here. You're back, and that makes everything better. The only thing better would be if..." 

"If Joel was here, too? That's part of why I came back. But we'll talk about that later, okay? For now, just sit here and relax for a while. I sent Gavin to the store to get some food, when he comes back I'll make us dinner and then we can talk." 

"Gavin... so I guess that's the blondie that was sitting outside with you?" Michael got a strangely soft look in his eyes when he talked about the other man. 

"Yeah... he's- he's part of what I had to go away to find, Ray. And he's one of the greatest things that's ever happened to me." 

"Is he- a werewolf as well?" 

"No, he's a human. Didn't even know what a werewolf was until a few years ago. Apparently he grew up in some tiny town in Britain where werewolves are still just a story they tell to scare children at night. Boy was he surprised when he came here to States and met people with real wolves inside them. Speaking of which, where is that idiot? Shouldn't take even him that long to grab the six things I sent him to find." Michael grumbled and he dug around for his cell phone, finally finding it where it had fallen just under the couch. Ray saw his skin blanch faster than he had ever seen before, and Michael stammered out some excuse before rushing out the door. 

Ray stretched himself out the length of the couch, exhausted by the emotional turmoil of the afternoon. It had hardly been what he had been expecting of the day, which should have been like every other, and yet had turned out so different. He closed his eyes, for just a moment, just thinking about what could happen now that his greatest wish from the last two years had come true. 

But, if he was honest with himself, he didn't know what was going to happen next.


	2. Chapter 2

Michael rushed down the stairs from the apartment, feeling slightly guilty for leaving Ray all alone with very little warning, but a look at the number of messages on his phone had him slightly worried. He hadn't meant to forget about Gavin, hadn't really thought about the fact that the man was on his own, in a strange city, didn't know which apartment was Ray's, and that they weren't in a very safe part of the city to begin with. 

The very upset-sounding messages Lindsay was sending to his phone were proof that he was apparently the only one who hadn't thought very much about sending Gavin to a store by himself. Gavin. The guy who couldn't even walk out the door by himself without tripping over at least three things and most likely getting run over by a car. 

Michael felt a burst of relief as he walked out the door and found Gavin sitting there on the steps, idly swinging a leg back and forth. There were three brown bags of groceries by his feet, and he had his cell phone in his hand, probably typing a message to Lindsay if the goofy grin on his face was anything to go by. But he was whole and healthy and there wasn't a single scratch anywhere on his body, no evidence that he had so much as tripped while he was walking back and forth to the store. 

"Jesus, idiot, you and Lindsay made it sound like you had been mugged and stabbed and were bleeding to death in some alley somewhere." Gavin's head whipped around, a chuckle already escaping from his lips as his eyes lit up at the sight of his curly-haired werewolf mate. 

"Michael! Nah, I made it back from the store with no problem, and I even found everything you asked me to get. I may have gotten a pack of cookies as well, but I ate almost all of them while I was walking back. I think I have one left somewhere." He fished around in his pockets, looking for something with an intense look of concentration on his face. 

Michael would never admit to anyone, no matter what, but he found Gavin to be ridiculously cute and sweet and attractive. Even if he was still the klutziest idiot Michael had ever met. He finally pulled his hand out of pocket, holding a cookie wrapped in plastic that was slightly smushed and oozing melting chocolate. But when he held it out to Michael with an expectant smile, there was no way the werewolf could do anything except accept the gift with a fond shake of the head. 

"Well, thanks for the cookie. Now c'mon, let's get you inside, where I don't have to worry about you being mugged and stabbed and bleeding out on the sidewalk." Between the two of them it was an easy thing to carry the three bags up the stairs, and Gavin managed to only almost-fall twice on the way. 

But soon enough they were pushing open the door, depositing the bags in the kitchen. Ray was laying on the couch, but the way that he hadn't reacted them entering led Gavin to think that the other man was sleeping. Of course, Michael knew that for sure, because he could smell the sleep on Ray. 

Between the two of them, they were able to make short work of spaghetti and meatballs with salad on the side. They tucked other food into Ray's nearly empty cabinets and put a few things in the refrigerator. Gavin was setting the table with some of the plates that he had found in the bottom of a cabinet, when arms suddenly stole around his waist and lips were pressed to the back of his neck. He turned around to wrap his own arms around Michael, pulling the other man close and tucking him into his chest. 

"What's wrong, Michael?" The man in question sighed, tightening his grip and nuzzling into Gavin's neck  "Nothing. I promise, nothing is wrong, this is just more than I expected and it's a little overwhelming. I'm sorry to have to ask so much from you, this is going to be a lot more than what we talked about on our way up here." Gavin wound one of his hands up into Michael's hair, scratching lightly just behind the ears in the way that all werewolves seemed to especially liked. He figured it must be something about the dog in them. 

"It's fine, Michael. You know I'm here for you, I'll do whatever you need and I'll support you in everything you want to do. You just take care of whatever this thing is between you and Ray. I'll take care of myself." Michael pulled away with a chuckle, kissing Gavin lightly on the lips. 

"Thank you for being so understanding about all this." Gavin giggled, rolling his hips against Michael's in a very suggestive way. 

"Don't worry, there are several ways I can think of that you could make it up to me when we're back home again." Gavin twirled away, reaching out a lanky limb to smack Michael on the ass as he drifted back into the kitchen. "Now go wake up your friend before the food gets cold. I actually managed to make a salad that didn't end up somehow burned, and I would like to be appreciated." 

Michael took a moment to watch his mate wandering the kitchen, setting bowls of food on the table, and wondered for a moment how he got quite so lucky. But then he was shaking himself back into the moment, shaking his head literally to clear the thoughts, before he moved over to the couch and kneeled down next to it. 

"Ray? It's time to wake up now. We have dinner ready, just waiting on you." Ray rolled over blearily, focusing sleep-fogged eyes on the man by the couch. 

"M- Michael?" The curly-haired man saw the fog suddenly clear from his eyes, and then he was sitting completely upright, eyes opened wide with shock and hands clinging tightly to whatever part of Michael he could reach. 

"Ray? Hey, it's okay, calm down." 

"Michael? Oh my god, you're actually here, I thought it was all a dream, I was so sure that I'd wake up and you wouldn't be here... I was so sure..." Michael smiled gently at the scared boy, disengaging his hands from where they were stuck in Ray's, and pulling both of them up to a standing position. 

"Well, you were so sure, but you were wrong. I'm still here, nothing was a dream, now come sit and eat. We made spaghetti, and it's going to be cold soon, so let's go eat." Ray followed after closely, still holding loosely to one of Michael's hands. He had the vague thought that perhaps he should not be quite so touchy-feely, considering that the werewolf's mate was less than five feet away, standing in his kitchen. But truthfully, he just couldn't care. And it seemed like neither Michael nor Gavin cared either, because Michael wasn't pulling away, and Gavin was still smiling and hadn't given Ray a single dirty look. 

"Wow... this looks really good. I haven't had food like this in ages, like, months and months at least." He sat on one side of the table, across from Gavin and next to Michael. They dug into the food, all three piling their plates high with greens and pasta and meat and red sauce. Gavin stayed quiet through the whole meal, only interjecting when he was directly asked a question. But Michael and Ray kept up a steady conversation the whole time. 

They talked a little bit about days long gone. About hot summer days spent in a tiny house with a big old oak tree that shaded the entire yard. About two werewolves and a young boy who lived together, made a family together, and had so many happy memories between them. Most of the conversation was about the two years apart, about the pack that Michael and Joel had found for themselves down in Austin, Texas of all places. 

"It's this really great company, called Rooster Teeth, and there's a few different packs that make up the staff there. Most of the people are either a werewolf, or a human that has been marked by a werewolf, although there are a few unclaimed humans. I ended up tied to Geoff's pack, he runs this branch called Achievement Hunter-" 

"W- wait... Achievement Hunter... you mean like, the Achievement Hunter? The one that films all those achievement guides and the Let's Plays and all that stuff?" 

"Oh, so you've heard of them?" 

"I only work at GameStop, Michael. I've never actually gotten to watch them, or listen or anything like that, but that's all anyone ever talks about there. I never thought you would be that Michael." Gavin snorted from that end of the table. 

"Oh, he's that Michael all right. Loud and obnoxious and the foulest mouth I've ever heard." Michael growled and reached over to punch Gavin on the arm, but Ray saw how his hand trailed down the arm afterwards to soothe the rough gesture, and how their hands twined together under the table. 

"Yeah, well, when I got there it was just Geoff and Jack and Gavin here. And soon after that Lindsay joined. She's, um, while we're on the topic, I should probably tell you that Gavin isn't my only mate. There's also Lindsay, who strangely enough, is an alpha though she chose to be a part of Geoff's pack rather than creating her own." 

"How does that work? I thought werewolves could only have one alpha?" 

"It's a little more complicated than that. Since Lindsay chose to submit to Geoff, she essentially gave up her alpha status. So the hold she has on my wolf, since she's an alpha and I'm a beta, means that my wolf defers to her, but it gives Geoff preference over her. Though, it's never been a problem before, since she's never tried to order me to do anything against Geoff's orders. Or really tried to order me around at all..." 

"Well, there was that one time-" Ray had never seen Michael move so fast, but in a flash his hand was tight against Gavin's mouth, muffling the rest of that sentence, and his face was red enough to match the tomato sauce. 

"Gavin, I swear to god, you fucking moron, no one needs to know about that. Ew, oh my god, did you just lick me? Fucking idiot." Gavin laughed cheerfully when Michael wrenched his hand away, shaking it as if to shake off the spit. Ray shook his head at the two of them, yawning in the middle of the motion. The blonde-haired man chased both of them away from the table, clearing the dishes and putting away the food on his own. Ray and Michael went back to sit on the couch, the only other piece of furniture in the apartment aside from the mattress. 

"I guess when we're done here, Gavin and I will go find a hotel room somewhere. We can come back in the morning-" 

"Do you- do you think you could stay here? Just for tonight, anyway, I know there's not a lot of space, and it wouldn't be as comfortable as a hotel, but..." 

"It's still just too much of a dream, huh?" Ray looked up at Michael but found that he couldn't meet the other's eyes for more than a moment. 

"Yeah, um... it's still just hard to believe, it was such a surprise." 

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'll talk to Gavin but I don't think it'll be such a problem." 

"Thank you, Michael. I'm sorry, I know it's weird to ask-" 

"Ray, no. I wasn't here for two years, but I'm here for you now. Anything you need, I'll do my best." Just then, Gavin came out of the kitchen, flicking off the light behind. 

"Everything is all cleaned up now. Also, I didn't realize how bloody late it is, and we promised Lindsay that we'd call her almost 20 minutes ago." 

"Oh fuck. Listen, Ray, I'll be right back, okay? Just gotta make a phone call. Just... do whatever you usually do at night, we won't be long." The two men headed out into the hallway, Gavin already pressing his cellphone to his ear. 

Ray got up, checking to make sure all the windows were locked, that anything that could possibly catch fire in the kitchen was unplugged and safe. He changed from his work uniform into lounge pants and a loose t-shirt, one that he had stolen from Joel almost five years prior. He sat down on the bed, flopping backwards on the lumpy mattress and pulling a pillow towards him. The sound of Michael and Gavin murmuring into the phone drifted through the slightly opened doorway, along with all the other normal sounds of the apartment complex. His attention was wandering, mind thrown back in the past to warm nights like this and a lumpy mattress like this one that they dragged out into the yard so they could count the stars. He was startled out of his daydreams when footsteps came across the apartment and stopped right next to him. 

"Hey, Gavin is finishing up the call, but I asked him about staying and he didn't have a problem with it. Do you have an extra pillow and blanket anywhere? We can sleep on the sofa." Ray gestured off at the doorway that led to the tiny bathroom. 

"I think there's something up in the top of the closet. The things that I save to use in the winter when it gets a little cold in here." Ray had assumed that Michael moved off to grab the things he was looking for, but then he opened his eyes to see that the man was still standing there, looking at him with an unreadable expression. "What, did I say something?" 

"No, nothing at all." Gavin slipped back into the door just as Michael was pulling the blankets down from the closet, and quickly moved to grab them. The werewolf gave him a soft look and a little ruffle of the hair as he passed off his burden, and then Michael was right next to the bed again, sitting down on the edge this time. 

"Alright, Ray, time for bed now. By the way, you aren't going to work tomorrow." 

"But, I need to work, I already barely make enough to make ends meet, my manager has been cutting my hours and I need to work every chance I can get." 

"We'll be having a conversation about that as well, but I think it's better saved for tomorrow. For now, just get some sleep, okay? Don't worry about waking up for work in the morning, we'll take care of everything." Ray squirmed around so Michael could pull the covers back, getting him all tucked into bed. Michael went to stand up again, but Ray grabbed his arm and pulled him back. 

"Stay, for just a minute." Michael looked across the room at Gavin, who smiled back and waved him on, grabbing his pajamas out of the bag they had brought upstairs and heading into the bathroom. 

"Alright, I'll stay. What do you want?" 

"I don't know... just talk to me..." 

"Okay, sure. Well, do you remember that time that we-" The two men talked for almost an hour, Michael just taking a quick break to change his clothes when Gavin was done in the bathroom. They were both falling back into being entirely comfortable with each other, all tangled up on a heap on the bed, talking until they feel asleep all wrapped around each, just like they had so many nights in the past. 

It was completely dark in the room when Michael jolted awake, fortunately without waking Ray. He fished around for his phone, tapping on the screen so that the overly-bright light could show him that the time was 3:28 in the morning. Almost four hours after they had finally fallen asleep the previous night. He stumbled up, carefully untangling his limbs from Ray's and rearranging the blankets so that the younger man was still warmly wrapped. Michael stretched himself out, feeling each of his vertebrae shift and crack as he groaned. It was then that he remembered the reason he had shaken awake, the feeling that something was missing from his bed, from his arms. 

He whirled around to face the sofa, seeing the lithe figure that was curled in on itself there. Gavin was fast asleep, though it looked troubled and restless. There was a little wrinkle between his eyes, one that only showed up when he was having bad dreams, and even from the distance Michael could see him shivering. Though the night had started out warm, the temperature had quickly dropped, and the heating in the apartment had not seemed to kick on like it should have. 

Michael detoured to the bathroom, grabbing two more blankets and spreading one over Ray. The other he brought with him over to the sofa, where he sat down on the edge to rearrange his sleeping mate. Michael plucked the cell phone from Gavin's hand, accidentally brushing against the screen so that it lit up and revealed the string of texts he had been exchanging with Lindsay. The last one caught his attention, mostly because Michael had always been nosey and slightly over-bearing where his mates were concerned. 

_'Don't be mad at him, Linds, I told him to care of Ray. I'm a big boy, I can take care of myself. Besides, I slept alone for years before I met you, I can sleep alone tonight. Goodnight, I love you :) <3'_

Michael sighed, flicking off the phone and plugging it into the charger, resting it on the floor where it wouldn't be stepped on. Then he stretched himself out on the couch, pressing up close to Gavin's body and pulling both blankets over them. He wrapped himself around his mate, covering him as completely as he could, smiling as the frown line between the younger man's eyes went away as he snuggled closer to the werewolf, recognizing his mate even in the disorientation of sleep. 

"M- Michael?" The way that Gavin spoke Michael's name with his accent when even more pronounced when he was tired, and the curly-haired man pulled him closer in response. 

"Hush now, Gavin, I'm here. Just go back to sleep. I promised you wouldn't ever have to sleep alone again, and I'm not about to break that now." Gavin smiled, wrapping one of his legs around Michael's so that he could press their calves together, and the two of them drifted off to sleep together.


	3. Chapter 3

The sunlight was streaming in through the missing panels on the shades, casting trapezoidal shadows across the floor. As one of the beams crept across the floor and shown fully on the bed, Ray began to stir and blearily blink his eyes. There was a moment of panic when he realized that he had fallen asleep tangled up in someone who was no longer in the bed, but it only lasted until his gaze fell on the sofa across the room and the two men who were sleeping there.

Gavin was pressed against the back of the couch, sleeping on his back. Michael was draped on top of and around him, covering every inch of the slightly taller man that he possibly could. Gavin’s more slender body was engulfed by Michael’s broader frame, making it difficult to see even a flash of blonde hair beneath the blankets.

He stood and stretched, quietly creeping across the room to the bathroom so that he could relieve himself, grabbing his phone from the charger on the way. As he flicked his finger across the screen to turn it on, he noticed that the time read 10:23 in the morning. Ray was surprised that he had managed to sleep so long, but somewhere in the back of his mind was the niggling thought that he was incredibly late to work now.

But, Michael had told him that he was not going to work today, and that they were going to have a serious conversation, so Ray decided to trust the werewolf. Another niggling thought popped up that he shouldn’t be so willing to trust someone who had abandoned him for two years, because Michael had come back, and right now that was all that mattered to Ray.  
There were two missed calls and a voice mail on his phone, all from his boss, but Ray had no patience to listen or call him back, so he just ignored them instead.

After changing back into his jeans and splashing water on his face, Ray came back out of the room to see that Gavin was awake now.  
The young man had somehow managed to wiggle his way out from under Michael without waking up the werewolf. Ray knew that it was difficult to do that, difficult to keep from waking the werewolf even after years of living with him.

But there was Gavin, standing next to the couch, pulling the blankets back around Michael and then moving to grab his phone from the floor. It was then that Gavin noticed the man standing by the bathroom door, and grinned goofily as he moved towards the kitchen, motioning for the other to follow him.

“Good morning, Ray. Do you like coffee?” Ray nodded, standing awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen as Gavin bustled around him, starting a pot of water and pulling eggs, bacon, and bread out of the fridge and cabinets.

“Did you- um- did you sleep well? I know the sofa really isn’t very… comfortable, but…”

“Nah, it was fine. I’ve slept in much worse places before, that sofa was fine.” Ray caught a glimpse of a sad smile on Gavin’s face, but it was gone in less than a moment, so quick he wasn’t sure that it had been real. But the goofy grin was back and then Gavin was spinning around and somehow managing to drop an egg. Ray swore that he hadn’t even been holding an egg, but now there was one broken on the floor. Gavin sighed before grabbing wet napkins to wipe up the mess.

“Do you- do you need help with that?”

“I’ve got it. Just gotta pay more attention to what I’m doing. But… maybe I’ll leave this part to Michael. He’s always been better at the cooking. How do you want your coffee?”

“Um, just black is fine, thanks.” Gavin finished preparing three cups, pouring an unhealthy amount of cream and sugar into his cup, so much so that it seemed to be more that than actual coffee. The third cup had just a little sugar but a healthy dose of cream, which Ray recognized as the way that Michael liked his coffee. The blonde-haired man brought the cups to the table, motioning for Ray to follow him. After a short period of silence, and sipping at the hot drinks, Gavin finally spoke up again.

“So, I know a little bit about you already. That you grew up in the same house as Michael, that you’re not a werewolf, that you love to play videogames and are stupidly good at them. And, I think Michael mentioned that you both grew up with Joel as well? Oh, and you really like hot strawberry milk when you can’t sleep.”

“That’s- that’s a lot of very detailed things to know about me.” Gavin laughed at Ray’s bewildered expression.

“Michael talks about you a lot, you should have heard him when he first started working with us, he never shut up about you.” Ray flushed lightly.

“Oh, well, I- uh- I promise I’m not really that interesting.”

“You were interesting enough that I was convinced that Michael was in love with you and that I didn’t stand a chance with him. Took quite a while for us to straighten that mess out. But anyway, I know all these things about you, but only from his stories. So why don’t you tell me a bit about you?”

“Well, I- I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“Well, Michael told me this one story once…” Gavin slowly drew Ray into conversation, telling stories of his own experiences with the werewolf they both knew, to try to get Ray talking. They were both so absorbed in their conversation, Ray telling the story of how Michael and Joel had once set up a swimming pool in the backyard and made the whole house smell like wet dog, that neither of them noticed that Michael was stirring.

“You know, it’s not very polite to talk about someone when they aren’t awake to defend themselves.” Ray jumped, not having heard Michael come up to the table, but Gavin just laughed.

“Well, if we tried telling these stories when you were around, we wouldn’t get very far, now would we?”

“There is a reason for that, mainly that I don’t particularly want the stories told.” Michael’s words were rough, and underlaid with a low growl, but Ray could see the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, and the amusement in his eyes. The young werewolf slinked around the table, wrapping an arm around Ray’s shoulders in a quick hug and then moving along to press a kiss to his Gavin’s waiting lips. He sunk down in the chair, and Gavin pushed over the cup of coffee that was already prepared for him.

“Oh, that’s good. Just the way I like it. Now the day can finally begin.” Ray laughed quietly at the blissful expression on his friend’s face.

“Still can’t function well without your morning caffeine, eh?” Michael smirked at him, even as he leant over and pressed himself into Gavin’s side.

“What can I say? Coffee is the nectar of the gods.” Gavin shook his head fondly, throwing an arm up and over Michael’s shoulders to pull him closer.

The three of them sat quietly for a time, just sipping their drinks and enjoying the stillness of the late morning. Occasionally, Gavin pulled out his phone, smiling at whatever was on the screen, typing replies, and sometimes showing the messages to Michael. Eventually their cups ran low, and the werewolf stood and stretched.

“Alright then, that’s enough time for coffee, I think it’s time to make the food now. C’mon, Ray, you’re gonna help.” Gavin followed both of them into the kitchen, seating himself up on the counter where Michael was gathering food. Ray had noticed that the two of them were rarely out of contact with each other, and certainly didn’t go far from the other more than the once that Gavin had gone to the store.

"What are we making?"

“I think just bacon, eggs, toast… the usual foods. Does that sound okay, Ray?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. What do you want me to do?”

“Here, you can cut up some of these apples to go with all the other stuff.” Ray accepted the knife and fruits, and went to go dig out a cutting board from the bottom of a drawer. There was silence for a time as the two men prepared the food, and Gavin continued messaging on his phone.

When everything was ready, the three sat back down at the table, Ray with mostly eggs and a little bacon, Michael with mostly bacon and a little bit of eggs, and Gavin with a plate of fruit. Ray could tell that his old friend had something to say to him, he kept opening his mouth as if he wanted to speak, but then he would just sigh and look down again. Gavin was throwing both of them unreadable looks, until he finally flopped back in his chair.

“Okay, seriously, this is bloody uncomfortable. Ray, Michael came all this way and he has something he wants to ask you but he’s too scared to do it.” The werewolf growled, but his cheeks were also flushed red from embarrassment.

“I am not scared, you moron.” Ray ate his last bite of eggs and then pushed his plate away, staring contemplatively at his friend.

“Alright then, what is it that you want to talk about, Michael?”

“Well- um- it’s just that… I just found you again, and I don’t want to leave you alone again. But I can’t stay here, I have to go back to Texas, and my job, and Lindsay, but- I can’t stay here, but I can’t leave you either, so… I guess what I’m trying to ask is…”

“Oh bugger all. Ray, will you come back to Texas with us? We have a place for you, we have a job for you, and all of our friends there, the rest of the packs, would love to meet you. So what do you think?” Ray stared at the foreign man with a deer-in-the-headlights look.

“Wait, wait, you- um- a job? And a place?”

“Yeah, we planned this all out before Michael dragged us up here. There’s a room for you, back at Geoff’s place, he has a spare apartment in his backyard that I used to live in. And Burnie and Matt offered you a place at Rooster Teeth, with the rest of us. If you’re still as good at videogames as you were when you played with Michael, I’m sure Geoff would love to have you in Achievement Hunter. We bloody well need someone who’s actually good at videogames now.”

“B-but… Texas? You- you want me to go to Texas? I thought- that you were just going to leave again.” Michael scooted his chair over, reaching out to grasp both of Ray’s hands.

“I’m not planning on leaving you anywhere, not ever again, okay? It- I think it would be the easiest way for all of us if you came back home with us. Because we have a life there, Joel and I both, and we could provide for you and take care of you again. And there’s so many opportunities there for you, you could do anything you wanted there. And… and we have our packs there, all these people who help us and make us stronger so that- so that we could protect you.” Ray sighed, pulling away from Michael.

“I don’t need you to protect me or take care of me or anything like that. And Joel… I don’t know that Joel wants to see me, I don’t even know why he left me. But I- I don’t want to stay here alone, either. So… I guess… it’s for the best if I come to Texas with you.”

“Ray, you don’t have to go. It would be easiest, and I don’t want to leave you behind, but- I’m not going to force you. If you want to stay here, we can work something out, we can make something work, no matter what you decide.” Ray smiled softly, reaching back out to grasp one of Michael’s hands.

“No, it’s- I understand what you’re saying, I know that it would be better to come back, there’s nothing here for me. But more than that, I don’t want to be alone anymore. I want- I want to come back, and live near you, and work with you. So please… take me with you?” Michael laughed, throwing his arms around Ray, while Gavin surreptitiously wiped a tear off his face.

“We’ll work it out, we’ll make it happen. We can call Geoff later, and Burnie and Matt, and we’ll find a place for you to live, and everything can be right again. Ray… you’re coming back to Austin with us.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments, criticisms, and suggestions are much appreciated!


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